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Debt Collector Violations

If you have a debt that has gone into collections, debt collectors have the right to use legitimate means to get you to pay the debt. They can call you. They can write you. They can damage your credit rating. They can sue you and threaten to sue you. But some times debt collectors go too far, and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and other laws give you the right to fight back.

If a debt collector does or threatens to do any of the following, then you may have rights to hold them accountable.

Debt collectors generally cannot:

• Have you arrested or threaten to have you arrested for failure to pay a debt.
• Curse at you or yell at you.
• Speak to or threaten to speak to any third-party regarding your debt (such as your employers, family, or friends).
• Call you again if you tell them in writing not to call you.
• Call you at work if you tell them you cannot receive calls at work.
• Update their listing on your credit report without noting that the debt is disputed if you disputed the debt with them, either on the phone or in writing.

If they have done this to you, then you may have rights under the law depending on the specific facts of your case.

From the Case Files

Elderly grandparents get called by a debt collector several times a day, most days for months. The caller yells and curses at the grandparents and threatens to take away their home.

A mother receives debt collection letters from an attorney regarding an alleged consumer debt. The letters threaten criminal prosecution if the debt is not paid. The letters threaten to take away the client’s home and to garnish her wages. The debt collector tells the mother that she should be careful if she goes driving with her children because she may get pulled over by the police and taken away in handcuffs in front of her children if she does not pay the debt. This suit has been filed as a class action.

Consumers are sued for a credit card debt years after the statute of limitations has run.

A Travis County consumer purchases jewelry while on vacation in Las Vegas. The jewelry is shipped to her in Travis County. She gets sued in Florida regarding the purchase even though no part of the consumer transaction took place in Florida.

A debt collector poses as a law firm and calls client, a single mom who is 7 months pregnant. The debt collector says that a warrant will be issued for her arrest if she does not wire them $1,000 within 24 hours.

A car dealer sends a repossession company to an elderly grandmother’s home to repossess a vehicle which is not in default. The repossession company said they were filing felony charges against the grandmother to repossess the vehicle.